CALGARY — Football fans are rallying to support Calgary’s touchdown horse, including the pair who helped introduce a galloping steed to the Stampeders’ sidelines 45 years ago.

As the Canadian Football League debates whether to allow the Stampeders’ horse inside Toronto’s Rogers Centre for Grey Cup on Sunday, it looks like the tradition may be riding into the sunset.

“We continue to try to find a way, because it’s a great tradition, but it doesn’t look good as space is severely limited and there are safety concerns,” said CFL spokesman Jamie Dykstra.

It wouldn’t be the first time Calgary’s horse was sidelined — make that restricted to running across the end zone — during a Grey Cup.

But it could be the first time the horse was banished from the building.

For the man who helped start the tradition of the galloping cheerleader, news the CFL may force the Stampeders to break tradition seems unsporting.

“To go to Grey Cup without the horse would be such a shame. Our fans expect it, and even some of the other fans expect it,” said Rogers Lehew, team’s general manager from 1965-73.

In 1967, Lehew arranged to have a horse and rider on hand to kick off a home Stampeders game. As fans rose to sing O Canada, horseback rider Twylla McLean, now Bruhn, made her way onto the field atop Stormy, her palomino.

“She rode the horse down the middle of the field for the national anthem,” Lehew said.

Not satisfied with standing idle on the sidelines afterward, it was Bruhn’s idea to gallop up and down the sidelines to celebrate a touchdown.

”They were in awe, they had no idea this could be done. You could hear the roar as we went down,” said Bruhn, 60.

“I’ve met so many wonderful people,” said longtime rider Karyn Drake, who has been hell bent for leather atop a Stamps horse since 1993.

From her seat high in the saddle, Drake said fans are in love with the Stamps tradition.

“They’re just so exited from young to old. Young little fans just light up when they see that horse, and longtime season ticket holders enjoy it,” said Drake.

Drake said she’s disappointed to miss riding at the 100th anniversary Grey Cup.

“It’s just part of our game,” she said. “Having a horse run down the sidelines is an awesome tradition.”

Although the club typically hires a stand-in horse on the road, the Stampeders mascot has been reined in at Grey Cups before.

In 2008, a deal was struck with Olympic Stadium a day or two before that year’s Grey Cup in Montreal.

In 1999, the CFL and BC Place Stadium officials gave Blue permission to attend the game but was not allowed to charge down the sidelines.

In 1992, Itsy was forced to run across the end zone instead of along the sidelines at Toronto’s SkyDome because of the layout of the team benches.

This year, the CFL said there will be more people on the field than ever.

“There’s a lot more cameras, TV carts on both sides of the field, a lot more staff, a lot more security,” said Dykstra. “We’re trying to find a safe space for the horse on the field that doesn’t pose any safety concern for patrons, and players and staff on the field.”

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